Another Jungle

by Kristin Idaszak

The audience has arrived at the theatre to see a show about the Chicago slaughterhouses - only to find that the play has been canceled. Instead, the writer is there to give a slideshow presentation about the history of the stockyards. In trying to explore her family's Polish identity and the exploitation of stockyard workers, the writer unintentionally exposes a trauma from her own past. Inspired by Upton...

The audience has arrived at the theatre to see a show about the Chicago slaughterhouses - only to find that the play has been canceled. Instead, the writer is there to give a slideshow presentation about the history of the stockyards. In trying to explore her family's Polish identity and the exploitation of stockyard workers, the writer unintentionally exposes a trauma from her own past. Inspired by Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, ANOTHER JUNGLE explores the misuse of power, the way narratives get co-opted, and the way identity accretes over the course of generations.

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Another Jungle

Recommended by

  • Cheryl Bear: Another Jungle

    A powerful exploration of exploitation and abuse of power, trauma and the stories that are told. Well done.

    A powerful exploration of exploitation and abuse of power, trauma and the stories that are told. Well done.

  • Emily Hageman: Another Jungle

    This is a remarkable play. Reading the description alone hooked me--and Idaszak more than delivers. This is a play with a structure unlike one I've ever seen. There is so much happening here I'm going to have to sit and process it for awhile. It was both wonderfully entertaining and horribly jarring. Idaszak has so perfectly captured the feeling that so many of us writers feel--we want to say something important, we want to be understood, but everything gets muddled up and comes out wrong. And there are so many terrible things in this play, but it is triumphant.

    This is a remarkable play. Reading the description alone hooked me--and Idaszak more than delivers. This is a play with a structure unlike one I've ever seen. There is so much happening here I'm going to have to sit and process it for awhile. It was both wonderfully entertaining and horribly jarring. Idaszak has so perfectly captured the feeling that so many of us writers feel--we want to say something important, we want to be understood, but everything gets muddled up and comes out wrong. And there are so many terrible things in this play, but it is triumphant.

  • J. Joseph Cox: Another Jungle

    Saw Cloudgate Theatre's production of Another Jungle in the old Profiles Theatre space in Chicago. Perfect venue for this show. Kristin seamlessly transitions the play from one set on shining a light on the mistreatment of Polish immigrants in early Chicago to one that takes aim at the abuse of women in the theatre. And she made me laugh while doing it. I am still thinking of this play weeks later.

    Saw Cloudgate Theatre's production of Another Jungle in the old Profiles Theatre space in Chicago. Perfect venue for this show. Kristin seamlessly transitions the play from one set on shining a light on the mistreatment of Polish immigrants in early Chicago to one that takes aim at the abuse of women in the theatre. And she made me laugh while doing it. I am still thinking of this play weeks later.

View all 4 recommendations

Development History

  • Type Workshop, Organization Playwrights' Center, Year 2016

Production History

  • Type Professional, Organization Cloudgate Theatre, Year 2018

Awards

  • Relentless Award
    American Playwriting Foundation
    Honorable Mention
    2017